Fish and chips is such established Yorkshire food it is hard to believe it was Joseph Malin, a Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe that introduced the country to the dish in 1860.
According John Walton, professor of social history at the University of Central Lancashire the popularity of fish and chips as a dish for the working classes occurred on the back of the industrial revolution.
Fleets of ships powered by steam and equipt with new ice making equipment meant massive quantities of cheap fish could be landed and transported across the country in record time. Also by the early 20th century the working population had more money in its pocket for ready cooked food.
In 1928 Harry Ramsden set up his highly successful fish and chip shop in a shed at Guiseley, a small West Yorkshire town. Three years later he established his flagship shop and restaurant in a commercially brilliant position - where the main road from Bradford met the main road from Leeds. Families stopped off here before heading north up the A65 to enjoy days out in the Yorkshire Dales. Guiseley was also mill country where Harry sent out motor bike riders to deliver fish and chips to hungry workers at lunch time. He was one of the first to introduce fast food to the masses using methods similar to those McDonnald's would use later in the century. Harry developed streamline systems to mass produce a uniform dish, quickly and efficiently. He paid great attention to details including hygiene and quality control
. By the late 1920's there were around 35,000 fish and chips shops in Britain. Today there are a just short of 9,000. Sadly the original site of the Harry Ramsden Fish shop no longer shows any trace of its past.
I have always been a little confused about how to make the best batter for fish. Some add eggs, others leave batter to stand. Following a bit of research I have discovered arguably, the best fish batter is made with just self-raising flour, pale beer and a little salt mixed to a creamy, custardy consistency. This type of batter does not need time to stand as this makes the gluten in the flour swell and the cooked batter tough. (I checked what Harold McGee had to say on this and he agrees that crisp batters are best made just before frying). Blonde or pale ale is best and I used one produced by the Ilkley Brewery which lightens the batter to make it crisp and tasty.
A good batter adheres well to the food and fries to a crust which has a long lasting crunch and readily breaks apart in the mouth without tasting too oily.
So why not just pop round to the local chippy for some fried fish? Well - Booths (my favourite food shop in Ilkley) was selling gorgeous, cuts of
fresh, glistening
hake which make great battered fish but it is rare to find hake in a chippie these days.
C
ooking hake in beer batter is probably not worth doing for more than four people as you would need a very large fryer. Now that's where chippies come into their own.
Hake in beer batter
Ingredients
Serves 4
100g self raising flour and a little extra for dusting
¼ tsp salt
125ml pale ale
For the fish
4 fillets of white fish (hake, cod or haddock), each weighing about 120g
sunflower or rapeseed oil for frying
Method
Sieve the self raising flour and salt into a bowl and gradually whisk in the pale ale until the batter is the consistency of emulsion paint.
You do not need to allow this type of batter to stand because it will go rubbery if you do.
Run your fingers over the surface of the fish and remove any stray pin bones. Rinse and dry the fish.
Heat 10cm depth of oil in a heavy-based pan until it reaches 160C, or until a cube of white bread dropped in turns golden brown in 2-3 minutes.
Dust the fillets of fish with a little self raising flour. This ensures they are dry and can take the batter.
Dip the fillets of fish into the batter and lower them into the hot oil. Do this in two batches so as not to crowd the pan. Fry fish for 4-5 minutes until golden brown and crisp. Remove from the oil, drain on kitchen paper and serve straight away with tartar or tomato sauce.
Ref: Harold McGee on Food and Cooking. Hodder and Stoughton Ltd 2004 see p553